Paul Truong

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Paul Truong is a chess player, author, promoter and organizer, born in June 1965 in South Vietnam. He is an 11-time national chess champion of South Vietnam. He currently resides in the United States after fleeing South Vietnam as a boat refugee in April 1979.

In 2003, Truong co-founded the U.S. Women's Chess Olympiad Program with former Women's World Champion Susan Polgar. In 2004, Truong served as the captain and business manager of the U.S. Women's Chess Olympiad Team. The team captured one team Silver Medal, one individual Silver Medal and two individual Gold Medals, the first ever Chess Olympiad medals for the United States Women's Chess Team. He is also the business manager and chess coach for Polgar.

Truong currently serves as the Chairperson of the USCF Polgar Committee and he is the Vice President of the Susan Polgar Foundation. He is an advocate for Women's Chess and Scholastic Chess in the U.S. He has organized several annual girls tournaments with Polgar, including the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (awarded $155,000 in prizes, stipends and scholarships in August 2005), the Susan Polgar National Open Championship for Girls (largest national all-girls open tournament in the United States), and the Susan Polgar World Open Championship for Girls.

Truong was one of the organizers the 2005 USA vs Russia Distance Match and several events featuring Polgar, Alexander Onischuk, Boris Gulko and Alexander Stripunsky. He also was involved in organizing the Karpov–Polgar Clash of Titans match in 2004, the Karpov–Polgar-Gorbachev Chess for Peace match in 2005, the Guinness World Records Chess Simultaneous Exhibition which earned Polgar 4 World Records on August 1-2, 2005 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and the 2006 NYC Mayor's Cup (Kamsky, Onischuk, Ibragimov, Gulko, Stripunsky, Polgar), the highest rated round robin invitational event in US history.

Truong is also a well known chess photographer, and his pictures have been published in chess books (including 4 covers), magazines (ELLE, Sports Illustrated, NY Newsday, Chess Life, School Mates, Chess Life 4 Kids, 64 Magazine, New in Chess, Black and White, etc.), newspapers and websites. One of his photographs is of former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev serving tea to former Women's World Champion Susan Polgar; it made the cover of Chess Life in January 2006.

[edit] Publications

Truong's first book was Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours, with Susan Polgar. They also collaborated on World Champion’s Guide to Chess, Breaking Through, Chess Tactics for Champions, and A World Champion's Guide to Chess and co-author numerous chess columns and articles in Chess Life, School Mates, Chess Life for Kids, ChessBase.com, Chessville.com, www.ChessCafe.com, Chess Horizons, World Chess Network, www.ChessHall.org, Georgia Chess and Empire Chess, etc. In 2003, their columns won the Cramer Award for Best Chess Column and 3 Chess Journalists of America Award for Best Magazine Column, Best Endgame Analysis Column, and Best Chess Promotion column. They also won the 2004 Chess Journalist of America Award for the best endgame column in Chess Horizons. Truong also has created instuctional chess videos. [1]